Posadas County, New Mexico, has very few mean streets and no city-slick cop shop. But it has an earnest, elected Sheriff and his aging Undersheriff--William C. Gastner. Pushing sixty, widower Bill has no other life than in law enforcement--and doesn't want one, even if he's being nudged gently toward retirement. Then big time trouble strikes.
A car full of teens, running from a stop by Deputy Torrez, goes airĀborne into a rocky outcrop, killing all five kids and revealing a package of cocaine under the seat. Has someone brought big-time crime to the county.
Bill is now dealing with grieving parĀents--one of whom starts packing a gun. Then a second explosion of violence fells an undercover cop.
Under pressure, the sheriff's department pulls together to make a formidable team. Its weak spot may be Bill whose mind is too tough to crumble but whose body, long mistreated, gradually succumbs to stress. Ignoring all advice--and sense--he pilots the case to a final dramatic, midair confrontation where the fate of the killer--and the cop--will be decided....